The present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus for processing a substrate to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer within a processing chamber disposed inside a vacuum chamber. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a vacuum processing apparatus equipped with a transfer vessel coupled to the vacuum chamber, through which the substrate to be processed is transferred.
In the above-described apparatus, more specifically, a vacuum processing apparatus for processing a substrate-shaped sample (will also be referred to as “wafer” hereinafter) such as a semiconductor wafer corresponding to a sample which should be disposed within a vacuum chamber and processed in a processing chamber decompressed, as well as finer and more precise processing, an improvement in processing efficiencies of the wafer which is an object to be processed has been required. To this end, multi-chamber apparatuses in which a plurality of vacuum chambers are coupled to a single apparatus and processings of wafers at the same time in a plurality of processing chambers is capable have been developed recently in order to improve efficiencies of productivity per foot-print areas of cleanrooms.
Also, in such an apparatus equipped with a plurality of either processing chambers or chambers for performing processes, each of either the processing chambers or the chambers constitutes each of process units in combination with means for supplying thereto an electric field or a magnetic field, exhausting means such as an exhausting pump for exhausting an inner space, means for adjusting a supply of process gas to be supplied to the inner spaces of the processing chambers, and the like. This process unit is detachably coupled to a transfer unit; the transfer unit contains a transfer room (transfer chamber) in which internal gas and its pressure thereof are adjusted to be capable of being decompressed and which is equipped with a robot arm for transferring a substrate and the like so that a wafer is internally transferred and is temporarily held. More concretely speaking, a side wall of a vacuum chamber in which either processing chambers or chambers of each of the process units are disposed, which are decompressed, is detachably coupled to a side wall of a vacuum transfer vessel of the transfer unit by which either a wafer before processing or after processing is transferred in an inner space thereof decompressed to a similar degree as that of the above-described vacuum chamber, while an inner space thereof is constructed under communicatable and closable conditions.
Within the above-described structure, an entire dimension of a vacuum processing apparatus is largely influenced by dimensions and arrangements of either vacuum transfer vessels and vacuum processing vessels or vacuum transfer chambers and vacuum process chambers. For instance, as to a vacuum transfer chamber, a dimension thereof for realizing necessary operation is determined by being further influenced based upon the number of either transfer chambers or processing chambers which are coupled adjacent thereto, the number of transfer robots disposed within the vacuum transfer chamber transferring a wafer and a minimum radius required to transfer the wafer, and a dimension of a diameter of the wafer. On the other hand, as to a vacuum processing chamber, a dimension thereof for realizing necessary operation is also influenced by a diameter of a wafer to be processed, an exhausting efficiency within processing chambers in order to realize necessary pressure, and an arrangement of appliances required for processing the wafer. In addition, the arrangements of the vacuum transfer chambers and the vacuum processing chambers are also influenced by the number of processing chambers which are required in each of processing apparatuses in order to realize a total amount and an efficiency of fabrication of semiconductor devices and the like, which are required by users at installation sites.
Moreover, there are certain possibilities that atmospheres such as process gases within the respective processing vessels of the vacuum processing apparatus may give influences with respect to other processing vessels, so that maintenance time of the apparatus is increased and the yield of products is lowered due to contamination of wafers or the apparatus. Thus, in order that the wafer is not transferred into the processing vessels under a condition that the plurality of processing vessels are specially communicated to each other at the same time, valves are provided between the processing vessels and the vacuum transfer vessels and open/close controls of the valves and pressure controls of the transfer chambers and the processing vessels are required to be performed in such a manner that the atmospheres within the processing vessels do not contact to each other. As conventional techniques for the vacuum processing apparatus for preventing the contamination with respect to the wafers and the apparatus due to the atmospheres within such vacuum processing vessels, one disclosed in JP-A-2007-511104 is known.